Spent a few days at the Finger Lakes in New York; specifically, an RV park in Watkins Glen, home of the famous raceway, at the south end of Seneca Lake. Along with beautiful rolling hills and scenery, there are hundreds of wineries in the area. Perhaps their wine quality is not up to Napa standards; however, some of the views while you are tasting are world class. After a while, you forget about how great the wine is, and thank God you can enjoy the experience. Above, a view of Lake Seneca from the tasting room of one of the wineries.
The Finger Lakes number 11 lakes formed from glacial ice age activity started 2 million years ago. The lakes are among the deepest in the US, many with floors below sea level.
We stayed at a nice RV park/marina at the south end of Seneca Lake, in the small town of Watkins Glen. The second day we were there they had their annual boat race (only boats made entirely of cardboard, duct tape, glue and gum are allowed). Over 100 boats entered, in heats of two, many capsized; good times all around.
There is a magnificent gorge at "the Glen"; tried to capture some of the 1 1/2 mile hike right along the gorge. Marlene and I enjoyed it muchly.
Entry into the gorge above; notice the walkway at the top for perspective.
Some of the trail/walkway took us under light falling water.
Marlene, under heavier falling water; yes, you do get (slightly) wet.
Spent some time in Hammondsport, home of the Curtiss Air Museum. Great museum. Glenn Curtiss, one of aviation's giant pioneers, started out, like the Wright Bros., in the bicycle business. He showed great ability in his tinkering with motors, developing motor bikes, leading to motorcycles (In 1902 he modified a tomato soup can to build a carburetor for one of his first). He was asked to join Alexander Graham Bell and three others in starting the Aerial Experiment Association; each member was to design and build their own workable flying machine. Curtiss built the June Bug, shown below, which had workable ailerons and a steerable nose wheel.
The plane flew successfully, then won the $ 25,000 Scientific American Cup competition. Curtiss went on the win many other races and contributed greatly to America's aviation innovation.
The above June Bug is full scale, the only replica of its kind; and has been successfully flown.
We were in the vicinity of Corning; had to visit the world famous Corning Museum. It is quite impressive. Corning, the survivor of twenty some glass manufacturers in the area, is the world leader in all things glass. From Mt. Palomar's 200 inch Hale Telescope's reflective mirror to Gorilla Glass to Fiber Optic Cable; it's all described here. All of the manufacturing has been moved closer to raw materials (North Carolina, among others), but the headquarters, R & D and the museum remains here. And the museum is rather spectacular; all things glass, from 3500 BC Egyptian artifacts to modern day Chihuly; they have it all. Below a few choice pieces.
This is a Cameo glass piece called "Moorish Bathers" by George Woodall, finished in 1898. It incorporates amethyst glass carved in great detail, down to the eyelashes on the women. It took him 8 years to do it; unbelievable.
A beautiful example of Venetian filigree glass; wonderful detail, considering it was done in the 1600s!!!
And now, Marlene's favorites. The museum had a temporary showing of a traveling exhibit by Leopold Blaschka and son, Rudolf. For scientific purposes, sea animals, especially invertebrates, were difficult to study. Leopold and his son discovered, painstakingly, how to duplicate hundreds of these creatures, in exact detail, in glass, using a technique call "glass spinning". This was in 1863-1890. It is hard to show the degree of detail but, up close, it was very impressive.
Leopold and his son got their start with glass eyeballs; given that Marlene was an optometrist, she was attracted immediately.
One of the invertebrates at distance, then a close up.
Another full shot, followed by a close up. detail was amazing.
Had a chance to visit Cornell, in Ithaca, south end of Lake Cayuga. University started in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew White (who was its president for approximately 20 years) , an Ivy League school; Carl Sagan, of "Cosmos" fame was on the faculty here for many years. It has a gloried history of Nobel Laureates, business leaders, political leaders and diplomats. Lots of history here.
View of the lake from the campus.
Herbert Johnson Museum of Art; building designed by IM Pei, tribute to one of his mentors, Frank Lloyd Wright. You wouldn't realize it by the picture, but the building lets in a lot of light.
Andrew White was Cornell's first president, left 30,000 books to the library. Above, students in the famous and original Andrew White reading room, you feel smart just being in there.
Bill and Melinda Gates gave $25million to building of the Gates Hall of Computer and Information Science. Pictured above; opened 2014.
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